Lion Heart
by bonkaki
Summary: 'He wasn't like this before, but then again- back then, it was different.' After an abrupt goodbye, Gary and Misty meet again years later without ever coming to a conclusion about their past. /AU Egoshipping


A/N: It's been.. six years, wow. I never got out of liking Pokemon, so I'm glad to be back.

- bonkaki

P.S. I am sorry if this turns out to be like a shoujo manga, because I've been reading shoujo manga lately lol.

* * *

"Alright, everyone. Listen up!"

It's been a week since Misty started noticing it.

"I just finished talking about it with the other representatives- but it looks like we're the worst class this month."

A chorus of groans and whines resounded throughout the classroom. Misty kept her eyes on him, carefully observing his every move. He clapped his hands three times to get everyone's attention back, picking up his rolled-up notebook (with matching rolled-up sleeves that exposed newly-developed arm muscles that Misty had definitely _never noticed before_), that every class representative has.

"Looks like we have to do something about this, so who's up for a group study?"

"Paul's good at math!" "I'm not!" Laughter, this time. Misty held her gaze, digging her knuckles into her cheeks in frustration. He clapped his hands together again. "How about this: We all can go to my house today, how's that?" Misty heard the girls behind her giggle and some boys up front cheer in approval. Up front, their class representative was grinning to himself.

"Okay, that's settled then. Get back to your seats!"

It's been a week since Misty started noticing how much Gary Oak had changed.

xxx

"I don't understand it, May. He was _such_ a brat when we were younger. He stepped on my new rain boots in fourth grade and stole my umbrella twice! And now suddenly he's this- perfect A-student or something!" Misty narrowed her eyes at the ceiling. May sighed beside her, turning the page to a magazine she was reading. "It's puberty, Misty. If you open your eyes wide enough, maybe you can see he and that kid you know are completely different people now."

"Completely different people, huh?" Misty chuckled, finally finishing the juice box she had in her hands. "Well, yeah!" May replied, eyes not leaving her magazine. "I mean, you're not who you were in fourth grade, too, aren't you?" She turned a page and sneered at one article she saw. "You're not randomly shouting around at people because they piss you off, and you don't carry that weird mallet of yours anymore, right?" Misty looked at May with suspicion, prompting her to lift her head and roll her eyes.

"Admit it."

"That's different."

"It's not."

Misty let out a long groan and leaned forward on her desk, suddenly finding the back of her juice box very interesting.

xxx

_"You can go ahead first, I think I forgot something at the lab!"_

Misty went first to the classroom and got her and May's bags. She thought about what '_go ahead first_' meant. Did it mean she should wait here, or at the school gate? The last time she waited for May in here, May complained about how things would have worked out faster if she waited for her at the gate.

"Still here?"

Misty looked back and saw the class representative- Gary Oak, with his back turned to her, erasing the notes from earlier left on the blackboard. He picked up chalk and changed the date to tomorrow. She felt her shoulders freeze up for a second, wondering if she should answer him or not. She watched as he put the chalk back and dust his hands off on his pants. He turned to face her, picking up his bag from the teacher's table. Misty scolded herself a bit for not realizing he'd been there the whole time.

"Uh- I was waiting for May. I mean- she forgot something and she told me to go ahead here and wait for her."

"I see."

Gary smirked at here, and something inside her just- fumed. It wasn't annoyance, as much as she would have wanted it to be. It wasn't attraction... really. Gary slid his hands inside his front pockets and leaned back against the blackboard.

"Not coming to group study?" It came off as genuine, like he was concerned and wanted to know if she was going to come or not.

Misty looked back at him in confusion. She didn't get it, after all, how he managed to have changed this much. It was kind of hard to believe that he used to pull on her braids, eat off her lunch and pinch her nose when they were in grade school. Seeing him like this, talking so casually and erasing dates off blackboards to replace them with tomorrow's dates- it was too unlike him, the Gary _she knew_.

"Gary- can I ask you something?"

"Sure, Red."

_Red._

And then it was there, she felt a tug.

"Misty! What're you still doing here, I told you-"

That was when Misty felt all of it rush to her face, that moment when Gary turned to the door to look at May. That was when she noticed: The way his hair still spiked up in the same old way, the way his eyes were still the same deep green. But it was also then that she saw how his nose was taller now, his jaw more defined, back even more broad than she could remember, and arms long enough to lift her up.

Maybe, May was right.

Misty picked up both bags and balanced them on both of her arms. Gary looked back at her and something inside her was wondering if he saw her in the same way she was seeing him now.

"See you tomorrow, Green." She smiled.

The way Gary lifted up one hand to wave goodbye, and how his cheeks lifted up ever so slightly after he smiled- it was the same as well.

But this time, his eyes weren't that desperate for tears not to fall, and he wasn't in a car with his grandfather, either. And she wasn't hopelessly running after him, feeling the mud soak her sneakers because the rainy season had come.

* * *

A/N: Hello, I hope you guys liked it D; I already have a backstory for Gary and Misty, but for what's going to happen in the present time, I am.. not so entirely yet orz. But, excuses aside- I'm really glad to be back!


End file.
